Quester (クエスター Kuesutā?) is an arcade game released in 1987 by Namco. It runs on Namco System 1 hardware, and is the company's response to Taito Corporation's Arkanoid (released a year earlier), with this game's graphics and sounds being superior. It was released on the Wii Virtual Console in 2009 where it was retitled Namco Quester (ナムコクエスター Namuko Kuesutā?), with the reason the name was changed being unknown. A special version of the game, Quester Special Edition, was made as part of a contest where fans could submit their own level designs.
Gameplay[]
The player controls "Paddle" at the bottom of the screen with the rotary controller, and must hit a ball back and forth against a formation of bricks at the top of the screen. The player moves on to the next screen when all bricks are destroyed. Paddle can also collect a few powerups by hitting certain bricks, which can increase Paddle's size, creating a force field at the bottom of the screen, make a force field in the centre of the screen that can split the ball, or give and extra life to the player in the form of a Special Flag. There are also generator blocks that create infinite red and pink bricks, stone blocks that cannot be destroyed, and speed up and speed down blocks, which can speed up or slow down the ball respectively. Killer Meteors appear on most of the rounds, which can bounce the ball in the opposite direction if hit, and diminish Paddle's size if it's size is larger (it will have no effect if Paddle is in it's normal size). When the player gets to Round 33, the player will have to defeat a boss known as "Burida", and is protected by a metal wall. The ball needs to hit the top side to break the wall, and the player earns a 40,000 point bonus when the ball hits Burida.
Quester Special Edition[]
A special version of the game, titled Quester Special Edition (クエスター スペシャルエディション Kuesutā Supesharu Edishon?), was released sometime in 1987 as part of a contest, where fans could design and submit their own ideas for levels at Namco's amusement centers. Winners would have their designs included in the game as well as submitted in NG magazine. Many of the designs were based on that of other Namco characters, including Ki from The Tower of Druaga, Pooka, Kyuji-Kun and Mappy. Much like the original game, this version was never released outside of Japan.